The Rajahs of the Western World

A detailed Summary of The Rajahs of the Western World

My mother, who grew up in Sri Lanka, was shocked to hear the way I dealt with my boyfriend on the telephone. She proceeded to give me a talk on how a woman should achieve what she wants through womanly means and that it is imperative for every relationship that the stereotypical gender roles are at least superficially preserved. Indeed, she told me that this was the only way a relationship could survive. This fluttering around men is something every female does starting with the father and the brothers and later the husband - in Sri Lanka, at least twenty years ago, every man is a rajah, a prince, in his house. Having lived in Austria I would have said this is not the case here, however, when one takes time to study people it becomes clear that although both legal and social rules may be liberal, there are still many relationships that are based on the concept of spoiling the man.

The reason I am addressing this topic is because it features very prominently in both Ibsen's The Wild Duck and Miller's Death of a Salesman; although both plays centre around Hialmar Ekdal and Willy Loman respectively, it is not their strength that their families rely on. Although both fancy themselves as the succes

One would think that Hialmar and Willy would get a hard slap every time they ventured out of their front door but surprisingly, people got used to humouring them as they are easier to handle that way. Relling is the one who gets Hialmar interested with his invention and Willy's former boss always made vague promises about how Willy would share the firm someday but never made any concrete proposal as he knew Willy would be satisfied by this kind of friendly contract.

Although Hialmar was spoilt by his aunts who took care of him, it seems that both he and Willy got used to being mollified by their wives. The personality of Gina and Linda are much the same. They both love their husbands and try to manage their affairs so that they do not worry the men. Gina and Linda both do the accounts in the house remembering payments and loans and try to make the money they have last for as long as possible, even if this means denying themselves something; as Hedvig says to her mother when they are talking about saving "but then you and I didn't need anything hot for dinner as father was out". Of the two wives, Gina has to do more as Hialmar does not even work himself but lets Gina or Hedvig 'help him' while he works on his invention.

After having looked at the two mollified husbands, is this the way families should work? I have to say it depends very much on the people involved. Hialmar and his family were happy until the truth about Gina and Hedvig came out - it was only through the drastic suicide of Hedvig that Hialmar could again build up an illusion and the role of the grieving father for him to play. However, it may have been better for Willy had he recognised the truth earlier in life and had learned to cope with it as his suicide was, just as his life an illusion of heroism. In this modern world where illusions are plentiful it is better not to create a rajah as rajahs nourish themselves through dreams and there is no shop that sells those.

Thus Hialmar and Willy never have to face reality and are constantly supported physically and emotionally. It is not as though Gina and Linda are submissive, in fact they treat Hialmar and Willy like children. Gina asks her daughter if she is glad when she has good news to tell her father when he comes home and she replies "yes; for then we have a pleasanter evening" and Gina realises that "there's someth

Some common words found in the essay are:
Linda Gina, Gina Linda, Hialmar Willy, Sri Lanka, Willy Willy's, Biff Happy, Hedvig Hialmar, Bill Oliver, Relling Hialmar, Furthermore Linda, gina linda, hialmar willy, gina hedvig, dreams willy, wild duck, children willy, mollified husbands, werle's dinner, linda quickly, children gina,

Approximate Word count = 1588
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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